GRAFFITI BRIGHTON

Some street art and graffiti lasts for years, but much is removed or painted over after only a short period of time. Graffiti Brighton, I hope, provides a record - snapshots in time (I aim to take around 100 photos every autumn) - of some of the street art and graffiti to be found in Brighton & Hove, UK. I, personally, know nothing about street art or graffiti, not about any meanings or symbolism in the patterns and pictures and texts, nor about who might be wielding the chalks, brushes, or spray cans. But, clearly, there is a world of difference between some kinds of street art painted with skill and in sympathy with its canvas, so to speak, and other kinds of graffiti which is no more than crude scribbling. Whereas much of the former is commissioned and enhances the look of otherwise drab streetscapes, much of the latter can be considered vandalism. As a photographer, I feel a natural inclination towards the former, well-designed murals which offer bright colours and eye-catching subjects, but Graffiti Brighton is as much a record of the vandalistic graffiti as it is of the glorious wall paintings, and, incidentally, of the city’s streetscapes. All photograph titles are, idiosyncratically, my own. NB: Simply to save text space, I have used the name Brighton as a shorthand form of Brighton & Hove throughout. (Photographs copyrighted: permission required for use - charges may apply.)